April 2010

April 26, 2010

I have a confession . I have not been in the mood to work on jewelry . I get the items out and just stare at them . It's not a lack of inspiration but that I've become so completely smitten with working in the yard and doing mosaic work . I'm sure once the weather changes from pleasant to sweaty and gross I'll be back in the studio working on jewelry.

In the past few weeks i've finished the garden shrine as you saw and mosaiced the mail box ! This is it pre grout.

And i've started to work on a life size fawn that will go out in the front yard . Sadly I thought fawns were much much larger then they are in real life . The fawn, a taxidermy form, is smaller then most mid sized dogs . I'll post progress pics soon

April 16, 2010

I have finally started to update the shop with more tin jewelry . I don't know why I find the the act of photographing,measuring and listing my work so hard . And this weekend I hope to enlist my husbands help in the 2d part of the simple tin jewelry tutorial . Trying to take one handed photos just isn't working .

So far i've listed three necklaces and one very lovely pair of earrings. this pair makes me kinda wish i could still wear earrings . They're just so perfect for spring and summer ! Not to mention even though they're on the long sie they're still very light .

And of course when i saw this tin covered in little grey dutch rabbits I had to snag it and make something out of it . They make me think of my sweet bunny Basil .

April 14, 2010

I can tell it's spring when I suddenly look up and realize I have a huge ton of things to do ! Two of my friends recently opened an art gallery and want to carry some of my jewelry,not to mention the poor sad neglected etsy shop need new things . Have i been working on these things ? Kinda . I can't help it ! the weather is so nice outside that I would much rather sit out there and work on my mosaics ,watch birds and dig in the dirt .

But the plus to this is I've finally finished my Ganesha Garden Shrine ! This thing two almost a whole year to to finish . Mostly because I started it in the early fall and before I could finish it was too cold to sit outside and play with mosaics and cement . But here it is ll finished ! Please pardon the lack of plants . I've just recently planted some wild flower seeds all around it .

Why did I chose to make a shrine for the Hindu god Ganesha ? Well,Ganesha is widely revered as the Remover of Obstacles ,and who doesn't need a little of that in their lives ? He's also know as the opener of doors and therefore success. I've always been by the Hindu arts and temples . The colors alone are gorgeous!

And I've been breaking down more tins and working on a few new pieces .As soon as i can get some good photos I'll be listing these in the shop .

April 02, 2010

Artfest was a huge blast. I had a ton of fun and now i'm inspired to make colorful spring works . I was even lucky and sold both my necklaces ! if either of the lovely people who bought them read this please drop me a note ! I love hearing from people who have bought my work .

On to the classes ! On my first day i took Liesel Lund's Tin Charming . I'm sure it sounds kinda nutty that i took a tin jewelry class when thats what i already make . I took the class so that i could be a dear friend's helper monkey. She has problem carrying all that weight and has never before done metal work . We had a blast ! this is the necklace i made . i decided to branch out and try riveting something to my focal point .

I think sometime next week i'll list it and a few other pieces inspired by spring in the etsy shop !

On the second day I took Melisa Manely 's porthole pendant class . This one was so much fun. I already knew how to solder and use tabs but I had never thought to combine them in this way ! I can definitely see myself making things similar to this for my work . Maybe larger for pendants and smaller for charms . Each piece is reversible with some having a window with an image and others are my own etched copper .

I really want to try making these with the brass pipe I have and maybe etching the pipe itself !

My last day of classes was I think my favorite ! i took Linda and Opie O'Brien's collage a trois {tin collage class} I've been experimenting on my own with making large tin wall art but this class really helped me with easier ways to hammer in the tiny nails and how to approach the background . I'm itching to make more ,larger pieces !

as spring is everywhere i think I'm going to once again go to battle with the giant mess known as my studio. I always toy with taking before and after pics but I am simply too embarrassed by just how bad I let it get .